Sadr al-Din Qunawi: On Outward Forms and Unseen Realities
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Shaykh Mehmet Nazım Adil (April 21, 1922 CE – May 7, 2014; Sha'ban 23, 1340 AH – Rajab 8, 1435 AH), commonly known as Shaykh Nazim (Turkish: Şeyh Nazım), was a Turkish Cypriot Sufi Muslim Shaykh and spiritual leader of the Naqshbandi tariqa.
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You will come to know that there is nothing among the ontological forms, whether celestial or terrestrial, which is not related to God and ascribed to Him in one of the respects known as the "Names and Attributes". And if you are taken still higher, you will become aware of the secret of the exact-correspondence (mutâbaqah) between outward forms and Unseen realities, the appearance of these realities in appropriate forms, and the correctness of the parallelism (between the forms and realities). And if you are taken still higher, you will come to understand the secret of God as manifest in loci of manifestation, the mystery of His "similarity" (tashbîh) and "incomparability" (tanzîh), and the correct and incorrect mode of understanding each. You will also comprehend the meaning of the Prophet's words, "Verily God created Adam upon His own Form", even though the property of "Nothing is like Him" (Koran XLII, II) is established. So understand! For I have mentioned something for every person of wakefulness and insight who ponders these words. If its riddle is solved, he will gain knowledge of many of the sciences and mysteries pertaining to the Lord and to the engendered universe.
(Sadr al-Din Qunawi)
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Recommended Reading:
'Imaginal Worlds: Ibn al-'Arabi and the Problem of Religious Diversity'
by William C. Chittick (Author)
To Purchase:
Description:
In this book Chittick explains Ibn al-Arabi's concept of human perfection, his World of Imagination, and his teachings on why God's wisdom demands diversity of religious expression. He then suggests how these teachings can be employed to conceptualize the study of world religions in a contemporary context.
"Imaginal Worlds is an excellent summary and a solid interpretation of Ibn al-Arabi's teachings." -- Gerhard Bowering, Yale University
Ibn al-Arabi, known as the "Greatest Master,"is the most influential Muslim thinker of the past 600 years. This book is an introduction to his thought concerning the ultimate destiny of human beings, God and the cosmos, and the reasons for religious diversity. It summarizes many of Ibn al-Arabi's teachings in a simple manner. The ideas discussed are explained in detail.
The book is divided into three parts. In the first part Chittick explains Ibn al-Arabi's concept of human perfection; in the second part he looks at various implications of the World of Imagination; and in the third part he exposes Ibn al-Arabi's teachings on why God's wisdom demands diversity of religious expression, and he suggests how these teachings can be employed to conceptualize the study of world religions in a contemporary context.
"Imaginal Worlds is an excellent summary and a solid interpretation of Ibn al-Arabi's teachings."
(Gerhard Bowering, Yale University)
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